Frequently asked questions of novice, amateur and professional photographers

No matter how long you stay in photography, you are bound to encounter problems. If we can't go further, it may come from some common mistakes, or we may not realize the problem. Malaysian photographer Ming Thein's photographs involve commodities, wildlife, documentaries, travel, concerts and food. He shared his problems at various stages and proposed solutions. Some of them have been heard or have different opinions, but many of them have benefited me a lot and I hope to share them with you.

First of all, about novice photographers

1. The subject is not clear.

If your photo is not clear at a glance, ask yourself what you are actually shooting. If your answer is "I want to shoot XXX" and XXX is not prominent in the photo, then you should try shooting again and highlight XXX by various methods, such as contrast, color, light, motion, focus and so on.

Sometimes, what you want to shoot is not real, can't be seen in the photo, or even doesn't exist. Very difficult, extremely dependent on the background information and pulse of the photo, really hard to get.

2. Improper use of perspective method

Select the angle of view first, then the angle. Wide angle is used to highlight and exaggerate the foreground subject, and telephoto is used to reduce the subject that highlights the background. Take more pictures with a wide angle and take two steps less with a telephoto, and the photos will look dull.

3. Equipment error

This involves the overall technical errors: exposure, focusing, camera shake, white balance and so on. These problems usually come from over-reliance on cameras, that is, everything depends on automatic programs. A camera can never fully capture the image that a photographer wants. Photographers must control a series of settings themselves to get the correct photos and improve the shooting process, instead of spending time in the later stage, which can also improve the image quality.

Second, about amateur photographers.

1. Worry too much about the equipment

The symptoms of this problem are insisting on using all the tools to take every photo, or believing that a new device can improve your work-but the lack of work may stem from the lack of technology. What's wrong with buying too much equipment? When shooting, I will hesitate and have no time to master the equipment in my hand. So before buying, you should know the current restrictions and make sure that something new can solve your problem, otherwise it will be a waste. Of course, collectors are the exception.

Ignore the edge of the photo

Now 100% VF has become more and more common, and there is no excuse to shoot the subject accidentally cut, the branches burst and interfere. It is also important to consider the edge when shooting.

3. Color problem

Sometimes strange white balance or obviously wrong color can add interest to plane photos, but many times it just destroys the sense of harmony, especially about skin color and food. If you don't know the correct white balance, you can post-process the RAW file or manually adjust it with a gray card. But don't let the camera automatically adjust, especially when shooting JPEG, which will greatly limit the amount of information and adjustability of photos.

4. About black and white contrast

Many people's black and white photos are either too strong or too weak. The former will lead to the loss of details, the color range is not enough, and it is difficult to distinguish the subject from the background; The latter is boring, just like a chef has many delicious ingredients in his hand, but he only uses one.

5. Ignore natural boundaries and reference lines

These simple and useful little assistants are everywhere. For example, the guide line extending from the corridor is a good example, which can attract the attention of the subject. Similarly, they may be out of sight, so we should pay more attention to these details when composing music.

Center the composition

Few beautiful works put the subject in the middle, while dynamic works usually reserve some space before and after the subject, creating a feeling similar to predicting the progress or after the action. Now the camera has multiple focuses, so you can place objects flexibly.

7. This picture is unbalanced

Although it is usually a boring composition to put the main body in the middle, it is not ideal to put the main body in the lower left corner and then all other positions are empty. The so-called visual balance is not easy to explain, but we can feel it directly through vision.

8. Misuse of depth of field

Some people are very addicted to shallow depth of field. One after another, they are just works of barbed wire or red brick walls, with no content. The photo just shows a strong scattered scene. This kind of photo is like saying, "I rely on equipment to make styles because I lack imagination." Shallow depth of field is innocent and can highlight the subject, but a good photo can often supplement the content and information of the photo with a second dimension-background, while a fuzzy wall has no information. Therefore, we should think about how to balance the depth of field and highlight the components of subject and background information.

9. Bad timing and lack of preparation

Maybe you have enough skills, but you always miss wonderful shots. The only solution is to keep practicing. You need to learn to predict the change of the topic, which requires observation and experience; At the same time, you should also have an intuitive understanding of your homework delay, that is, you know how long it actually takes from when you want to shoot to when you press the shutter, and then get used to this rhythm and speed before you can shoot accurately.

Third, about professional photographers.

1. Creative stagnation

When you become a career, it means that you have found some good shooting equations that can even be used to make money, and then you will rely on it and repeat it. What's the danger? There are too many people in this world who like to copy other people's ideas. When they see a good idea, they will rush to do it. If you want to make a breakthrough in this world, you need to keep innovating.

At the same time, when you are a professional photographer, there will be a crisis, that is, most guests only like to let you do their requirements, while those who admire your talent and want you to play freely are very few. Over time, the photographer will become the executor of the camera, not the creator.

2. Outsourcing too much post-work

Some professional photographers will have a group of assistants to do post-work for them, such as adding creative elements or retouching styles. If you do this, you may never meet your requirements accurately. The biggest problem is that in the long run, you will be out of touch with technology. What will you do if those assistants leave?

3. Did not try a new theme

This is a classic debate: should a photographer focus on one subject to become a professional, or should he shoot everything to remain flexible? Ideally, you have a business subject, and then you have enough foundation to shoot other subjects. There are two reasons: first, you have the opportunity to earn more money, because you can give guests extra things; Second, different topics need different technologies, and these technologies have the opportunity to promote your cross-topic career.

4. Too much work

It's a bit paradoxical, because you have a gift, so you have a lot of work, but because you work too much, you don't have the opportunity to shoot what you like and do other creations, so your career has declined. However, it is also possible that when your career goes downhill, you will have more time to try new things. It is very important to balance your work and photography life.

How to use ISO in compulsory credits shooting for beginners?

What is brightness? Why do we have to adjust the brightness according to the scene light before taking pictures? In fact, ISO brightness, aperture and shutter can be said to be one of the three major factors that determine the exposure brightness when shooting. For all photographers, the image comes from the refraction of light, and the value of the picture can be conveyed through light. Therefore, this paper will start with the application of ISO sensitivity, and then explain it through practical examples, so that you can learn easily and shoot easily.

Starting with ISO characteristics

ISO is what people often say about brightness. It is an important basis for judging the required values of aperture and shutter. It forms a triangle relationship with exposure value, so that the light quantity is balanced with each other, and then the standard is set, and good shooting effect is obtained. For each photo, the ISO value will directly affect the shutter speed and aperture adjustment. The higher the ISO value, the shorter the exposure time. For example, if the correct exposure value required by readers during afternoon shooting is ISO 100, aperture F5.6 and shutter 1/30 seconds, if the player adjusts ISO to 200 at this time, the required exposure time will be shortened by 2 times, from 1/30 seconds to 1/60 seconds.

Simply put, the higher the ISO value, the faster the shutter speed provided in the same light source environment, which can effectively avoid the occurrence of hand shock, and give a new answer to shooting in relatively harsh environments such as Woods, basements and late-night alleys.

Low ISO exposure for a long time can keep the image quality clear and sharp (ISO 100).

The above picture shows the original 100% cutting.

High ISO will produce more noise.

However, with the improvement of ISO brightness, the image details will also change to varying degrees. Under high sensitivity, due to the objective factors such as light acquisition and environment, the improvement of high sensitivity is accompanied by the gradual increase of noise, especially in the dark shadow. Therefore, if players have the need to shoot pure images with large screen size, it is suggested to test more, or even focus on low brightness as much as possible, so as to balance the image quality and capture in exchange for clearer and sharper images.

If shooting time permits, it is recommended to match a tripod to make the picture quality more perfect. Of course, for some players, noise is not all bad. In the traditional negative era, this kind of thing called graininess is sometimes considered as the main element of negative film assignment.

The ISO value of some mid-to high-end models can be set to 1/3 step increments.

Although automatic ISO is very convenient for the general public, it sometimes leads to misjudgment, so players should not be careless.

However, in digital images, the problem brought by high sensitivity is not only noise, but also reduces the sharpness and contrast of the image, making the image feel flatter, and even feels that there is a thin layer of white yarn covering the image. Generally speaking, the noise produced by high sensitivity is mostly located in the dark part of the picture, so it is not easy to produce noise when shooting outdoors with sufficient light during the day, and it is not necessary to use high sensitivity brightness such as ISO 3200. On the contrary, it is easier to use high sensitivity in indoor environment, low-light street scenes at night and other occasions, thus generating noise.

How to solve the noise problem? In fact, in addition to controlling shooting at low sensitivity brightness as much as possible and paying attention to light and dark distribution and environmental factors when composing, it is also a good solution to eliminate noise by using the built-in high sensitivity brightness function of the camera. Although the suppression effect is still limited, it can still provide considerable help to improve the quality of high-sensitivity brightness images.

Using too high sensitivity can easily cause image noise to damage the image quality, and players can turn it into black and white according to the situation. (ISO 6400)

The camera quality determines the ISO usable sensitivity.

In recent years, various manufacturers are committed to improving the quality of high ISO. In the past two years, the available ISO values of monocular cameras sold in the market generally reached ISO 800 for APS-sized models, while the more expensive FF Quan Huafu models reached ISO 1600, and some high-end models even reached ISO 3200. In addition, in the evil camera part of emerging markets, Sony NEX series has the best high sensitivity and brightness, with ISO as high as 1600. Although the average aperture of lens configuration is not as high as other cameras, with the increase of available brightness, it further makes up for the lack of aperture.

Low sensitivity can depict more delicate portrait quality. (ISO 100)

Time and mode of ISO application

In order to let readers know the shooting theme and application mode of ISO faster, the author will summarize the applicable theme range of high and low ISO, and explain it through practical operation, so that readers can clearly understand the principle and application mode through the following examples and truly learn the application mode of ISO. Using low ISO to keep the image pure Generally speaking, low ISO can provide three major benefits for image shooting, namely high image quality, low noise and slow shutter speed. In terms of image quality, the low ISO is superior to the high ISO in contrast, contrast and details of light and dark parts, which can make the lines of facial levels, hair and corners in the picture more delicate and show the three-dimensional image quality. In the shooting of landscape themes, we can also make use of the advantages of low sensitivity and low noise to make the night scene shooting at dawn and dusk pure and flawless, even if we intentionally output it as a big picture, we don't have to worry about the imaging quality.

In addition, the benefits of low ISO are not completely limited to the performance of image quality. Sometimes, the effect of low sensitivity is to slow down the shutter speed and shoot another image flavor. For example, a shutter less than 1/2 seconds, such as mountain water and waterfall flow, may need to be exchanged for dynamic water flow; If you are outdoors in sunny weather, you can also increase the aperture (F2.8) and lower the ISO to ensure that the shutter speed is within the limit range of the fuselage (1/4000s or1/8000s), so as to reduce the probability of overexposure and obtain a soft and charming depth of field effect.

Most evil cameras increase the available sensitivity to 800, which is beneficial to indoor shooting at night.

Generally speaking, the available sensitivity of DC is mostly between 400 and 800.

If it rains, it is suggested to improve the sensitivity to ensure the stability of imaging. (ISO 400)

High ISO creates a new realm of image.

For the application of high ISO sensitivity, although high sensitivity is accompanied by high noise, the image quality performance will be relatively damaged, but in some dark and sinister shooting environments, it seems to be the part that photographers should pay attention to, and use skills in time to turn high sensitivity into assistance and capture decisive instant images.

With the improvement of ISO, the light will form different amounts of light on the photosensitive element, so that the shutter speed will increase with the multiple, which can effectively apply the principle of safe shutter and reduce the chance of hand shock. So what topics are currently applicable to high-sensitivity applications? According to my previous shooting experience, concerts, wedding records and some night scenes will be the most important topics with high sensitivity. For the first two topics, in order to avoid the dilemma that the theme is clear and bright, but there is no background, improving ISO can not only improve the light absorption speed in time, but also make up for the lack of background light in time, and also successfully preserve the charming light and shadow atmosphere of the scene; As for the night scene, it is mainly to use the situation that needs to be condensed at the moment to freeze the beautiful scenery in front of us by means of high ISO aperture, such as the Milky Way in the mountains, folk celebrations at night, and holding city night scenes. , all under the control of high ISO.

If the night celebration ISO is not enough, the image will easily lead to insufficient light at the scene. (ISO 1600)

Even with the help of stage lighting, in order to ensure that the shutter is fast enough, it is recommended to improve ISO for shooting. (ISO 1600)

Novice introduction DSLR theme introduction-portrait at night

Compared with ordinary DC, digital monocular camera enjoys more powerful performance and more setting options. It's a bit difficult to learn all the functions at once, but don't be afraid. As long as you follow our step by step, you can control your digital monocular camera at will.

Step 1: stabilize the camera with a tripod.

If you want to shoot a bright background at night, you must use a low-speed flash. At this time, the shutter speed will drop to a very low level, and a tripod is needed to help stabilize the camera.

Step 2: Adopt high ISO

At night, shoot the street lighting, and appropriately raise the ISO to 400 or higher, so that the shutter speed will not be too slow, and people will not move or blur. Press the I key on the back of the machine and use the arrow keys to set the ISO.

Step 3: Set the slow synchronization of the flash.

Press the I key on the back of the camera and use the direction keys to switch the flash mode to low-speed flash synchronization, so that you can correctly expose and shoot street scenes at a lower shutter speed.

Step 4: set the shooting mode to p or a.

Beginners can set the shooting mode to P mode, and advanced users can use the aperture first, using a medium aperture such as F4 or F5.6, which can not only shoot a moderate portrait, but also absorb the living light, and the street view will not be completely black.

(Nikon D5000, 1/2s, f/8, ISO:200, ISO:200)

Is it easy to take emotional night portraits?

Shooting settings above D5000

Shooting mode: P or A mode

Shutter release mode: single shot

White balance: automatic

Image quality and size: RAW+ JPEG fine

Photometric mode: matrix photometry

D lighting: off

Photo control: standard

Focus mode: AF-S single servo autofocus.